The 19-year-old’s flattering figures of 6-1-19-4 this morning took his wicket tally in the innings to seven. His outstanding show ensured Mumbai enjoyed an open and shut case as stumps were drawn out for the final time in this match before lunch. Hyderabad, who were struggling at 166/4 in their second innings at the end of Day Three after being forced to follow on, were dismissed for 243. Mumbai, with this win, lead Group A with 21 points followed by Saurashtra and Gujarat, both on 18 points from five games.

Kulkarni himself sits on top of the wicket-taking charts — along with Gujarat’s Siddharth Trivedi — with 26 scalps and has played a big part in Mumbai’s current status. And the teenager credits the phenomenal start to his Ranji career to a stint with the India A team. Before the domestic season began, Kulkarni got an opportunity to bowl against quality batsmen in the Australia and New Zealand A teams.

“That made a difference to my bowling. There I was bowling against batsmen who have been Test regulars. There is no margin of error at that level. It is not that our Ranji Trophy is not competitive, it is hard to take wickets here. But once you perform against big names, mentally it has a great impact,” he said.

He may be on a high, but Kulkarni wasn’t in the right frame of mind before the season began. Despite being picked for India A, he didn’t find a place in the Challenger Trophy. These confusing signals disturbed Kulkarni but now those thoughts are a thing of the past.

“I’m focusing hard now and working on extra fitness as well. The Ranji Trophy is very important for me and now I’m not thinking of any other thing.”

Watching Kulkarni bowl on Friday, it was clear that wickets are the only thing on his mind. The day started with Hyderabad needing 185 more runs to force Mumbai to bat again, but the young pacer had other ideas. He took three wickets in his first two overs and an innings defeat for Hyderabad was practically inevitable. Since centurion Ravi Teja happened to be one of the scalps, an early end to the day was in store. And when Kulkarni uprooted Abdul Quadri’s off stump and had MP Arjun was caught at slip by Mumbai skipper Wasim Jaffer later, it was all over in time for a happy meal.